Last Kiss
by NoOneShallKnow
Summary: Then suddenly Nyota was there and he was being released from the ensigns' hold as she ducked underneath his arm. She guided him to sickbay, shushing him and reassuring him that Jim would be alright as they went.


Everything had been going so well. They were exploring the planet, Spock and one of the crew's science officers picking up samples from the plants and filling vials with the strange orange water. Everything was quiet, apart from the rustling of trees and the chirping from the strange creatures that seemed to be a mix of bird and bat.

It was very Terra-like planet indeed.

They had walked deep into a thick patch of trees and Spock was taking samples of moss off the bark of one tree –what seemed to be a mix between two from earth, palm and maple- when he heard heavy footsteps pounding along the ground. He calculated quickly; they were approximately 165.76 feet ahead, on the other side of what he guessed was a stream, going by the slight sound of sloshing water.

"Captain!" Spock shouted. It was all he needed to do, because seconds later the sound of jumbled shrieks was heard and everyone was running in the opposite direction they had been going. Spock pushed Jim in front of him as they ran, feet barely dodging a line of metallic arrows that pierced the ground.

One of the three ensigns accompanying them fell behind Jim and tripped over a largely protruding root that the captain himself had barely managed to avoid. Spock slowed and pulled the young man up by the arm, pushing him forward almost harshly to get him running again as an arrow whistled passed his head and met a tree branch.

"Scotty, beam us up!" Jim yelled into his communicator as he breached the line of trees behind the rest of their party.

Spock glanced behind him, eyes narrowing as he saw the strange creatures getting steadily closer. They distinctly resembled centaurs from old earth fables, but there was a key difference that was immediately noticeable; they were covered in brightly coloured scales.

Spock stopped and turned to face them as he heard Scotty tell Jim that the transporter waves were being blocked and that he'd need time to override the strange signal. He sidestepped one arrow, ducked beneath another, caught one in a quick hand and thought he was fine before one embedded itself in his leg, ricocheting off his tibia and pushing deeper into the muscle.

Stumbling back with a grunt, Spock tried to take the weight off his injured leg and assessed the situation. There seemed to only be three strange creatures, the larger of which was obviously their leader, and they each held considerably large bows.

Two of them stopped while still in the forest. The leader rushed forward confidently, shrieking shrilly with a hard thump to his chest. He drew an arrow as his four hooves pounded the dirt down, twisting slightly to keep momentum as he made to swerve around the Vulcan. Spock stood, ignoring the pain in his leg, and pivoted on his good foot, lifting the arm that still held the arrow and plunging it between two of the creatures ribs.

The razor sharp metal arrow tip slashed through the nerves that controlled the beings limbs and a few important arteries before piercing its heart. It crumpled to the ground with a deafening cry, its humanoid head bouncing off a large rock. He quickly proclaimed it dead and went to gather a small sample of its blood between two glass slates. He righted himself and brushed the dirt off his regulation pants.

Spock didn't hear the frantic cry of his name or the multiple arrows sailing through the air until his ears registered the sounds of tearing cloth, metal hitting bone and a wet choke.

Spock caught Jim carefully in his arms as he started falling backward, eyes wide and throat tight. The bright white swirls vanished and he ignored the panicked screaming of Scotty, McCoy and Chapel as he gently laid his bondmate on the transporter pad. He let out a shaky breath of air and ran a trembling hand through the younger man's short, sweaty hair.

Barely 2.06 seconds later, Spock felt himself being pulled away from Jim and whimpered almost inaudibly. He struggled against the two ensigns that were holding him back, one of which he knew Jim called Cupcake. He was unable to keep in the slightly primitive sounds of his panic as he weakly –for a Vulcan- kicked back at Cupcake's legs with his own injured one.

Bones and Scotty carefully lifted Jim onto a stretcher and Spock whimpered again, louder. Then suddenly Nyota was there and he was being released from the ensigns' hold as she ducked underneath his arm. She guided him to sickbay, shushing him and reassuring him that Jim would be alright as they went.

As soon as Spock was pushed onto a bed, he was up again and trying to get to Jim. Nyota, Chapel and Yeoman Rand managed to hold him back due to his excessive blood loss, but nothing could quell his panic. That is, until Chapel took a hypo and swiftly injected him with a sedative.

A human would've immediately been out cold, but all it did to Spock was make his mind fuzzy. He let himself be pushed back into the pillows by Nyota, head lolling to the side. Jim was lying on a bed not too far with McCoy making quick work of his shirt. Jim had one arrow protruding from the left side of his chest, one from the middle of his belly and another just right of the center of his sternum.

The last thing he saw was Bones pouring a strange looking purple liquid over the metal shafts of the arrows.

--

Spock woke as soon as he heard Jim give a pained grunt and felt a shock of pain travel through their link. He was off the bed in seconds, the muscle in his right leg twitching madly beneath the artificially healed skin and almost giving out as he crossed the short distance between their beds.

Two big, pain-filled but _accepting_ blue eyes stared up at him and Spock felt a foreign sinking feeling in his belly, heart hammering in his right side in slowly recovering panic and fear. He moved to the other side of the bed and pulled down the side railing before sliding in behind Jim under the soft cotton blankets, slipping his left arm under his mate's neck as he lay on his left side.

Running his right hand shakily down over Jim's hip and thigh and back up again, over and over, Spock began singing quietly in Vulcan. Jim tucked his head into Spock's neck and let himself cry, sobbing lightly every time he heard his favourite word; T'hy'la. Spock's mind melted into Jim's as he kept on singing.

_Jim's eyes opened and he blinked up at Bones. He tried to sit up barely a second after he noticed the redness of his best friend's eyes and the lone tear that streaked down his cheek, but pain spiked all over his body and Leonard gently pushed him back into the pillows._

"_Bo..Bones? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Jim asked worriedly, reaching out a hand to grab at the doctor's arm._

The images faded away, but the words were already in Spock's head.

The arrowheads had been covered in a strange substance, something like venom with the texture of polish and the scent of acid. The purple liquid that had melted away the shafts of the arrows did nothing to the arrowheads, and it had taken Bones over three hours to remove them by hand. He had healed the outside, not even leaving the tiniest mark on Jim's skin.

But…

"_Jim, the substance is keeping your body from healing itself. The veins, arteries, muscles and nerves will remain unable to mend, even by artificial means..."_

Spock's voice cracked over the long note of the last _T'hy'la_ of the song, squeezing his eyes shut tight as his throat matched the action. He brushed his lips over Jim's forehead, eyelids, nose, cheekbones, jaw, and chin and then finally pressed them lightly to Jim's own. He could feel the life slowly draining from his bondmate and the feeling knotted him up inside.

Two tears dripped from Spock's eyes as Jim mirrored what the Vulcan had just done to him. They repeated the cycle over and over and, by the end, they were holding onto each other tightly despite their wounds.

"Spock?" Jim whispered, breath wheezing in and out of his weakening lungs. He felt through his mate the way his own heart was beating slowly and irregularly, felt his love's fear and sadness and panic.

"Jim.. please, please don't leave me…" Spock whispered back brokenly, voice layered thick with his desperation and sadness.

Jim inhaled sharply and his heartbeat stuttered. He shook his head weakly and pulled back enough to look into Spock's eyes.

"I love you, Spock.." Jim leaned forward and slotted their lips together gently.

Spock cried out in anguish when Jim's head lolled back, his eyes closed and mouth slightly open. He couldn't hear his heart anymore, could no longer feel his presence in his mind, and felt a cold emptiness throughout his entire self.

"Jim... T'hy'la, my Jim... I love you..."

The next morning when Bones, Nyota and Chapel walked into the sickbay, they were met with the sight of Spock curled around a blue, lifeless Jim, brown eyes open and dull as he stared unseeingly at the wall. As the three approached, they saw the tears that still poured from his eyes. He was clearly mouthing two words, but no sound was coming out.


End file.
